The crane was constructed in 1977 by VEB Baumechanik Barleben in the GDR and 1978 placed at the quayside of the former inland harbour of Schwerin. Due to the end of the use as harbour the crane lost its function for the movement of goods a decade later. The harbour was situated on the eastern embankment of the “Ziegelsee” and shipping lanes led to Berlin and Hamburg via rivers and canals.

A dockside industrial estate was developed after First World War in Schwerin, when the “Hafenbahn” (quayside railway) was built in 1923 to connect the harbour with the main railway track and the goods station of Schwerin. In the following years a lot of companies settled at the quayside, for example a wood trading firm with a saw- and shaping-mill, a coffee roaster, a vinegar and mustard factory, several food and builder's merchants. A shipping company for inland water transport existed since 1924 (closed in 1947/48 owing to expropriation).
In 1939 an elevator was built with eight stock floors and a capacity of 5.000 tons of corn. Due to the closing of the border between East- and West-Germany in the 1960th the shipping traffic from the river Elbe to Schwerin that extinguished the main part of the stock turnover in the harbour, came to rest and the port operation was closed around 1980/82.

Today the crane is restored and still in use, but only to hoist boats into the lake. The crane serves also as monument of the industrial history of Schwerin. Today the former quayside is a very popular promenade lined with residential buildings.